Look Alive Sunshine
by Strangerthings4
Summary: Rukia is a survivor of the Apocalypse. She has always been stronger than anyone she has ever encountered, and she's out for revenge for her murdered loved ones and nothing will stop her...except for a little pink haired monster and her group of survivors. ooc/au Hitsuruki rating may change
1. Chapter 1

Having no idea where you were going was hard. Having no one to go along with you is harder. Watching the people you love die had to be the hardest thing she had ever done though.

Now she just walked. No real destination. Just out of here.

She stopped mid stride. Her shoulder length raven black hair twisting with the wind and the dirt that was always floating in the air. "Can I help you gentlemen?" she asked, still not turned around.

The four men looked at each other, getting an unsettling feeling. The largest one took a step forward toward the petite girl and reached for the gun sitting in its hilt on his belt.

"Yeah, you can help. If you're smart, you'll just hand us all of the supplies you have with you. Then maybe we'll leave you be." He said with a confident grin on his face.

They heard the girl bark out a laugh. "Is that so? Just maybe?"

The grin got bigger on the man's face. "Well you see we have more men out east. We get lonely with not women around. It'd be nice to get some stress out. You seem to fit the ticket just right, baby. So come with us without a struggle and we'll make it nice." The girl heard the other men chuckle behind their patronizing leader. "If not, then you're in some trouble Hun."

The dark haired beauty still didn't turn around. Not even when she felt the cold metal of the pistol on her back. She just reached into her pocket. The man saw this and jumped back, waiting to see a gun or a knife appear in her had. Instead it was just a black hair tie.

She tied up her straight hair, her bangs on her face, but out of her eyes.

"Hey girlie, what are you doing?" One of the henchmen asked.

"I can't see right when my hair is in my face." Came the muttered reply.

She swung around suddenly. There were four bullet shots, with barely any time between them, followed by three thuds. Before the leader of the men could even reach for his gun, he was lost in a cloud of dust. He suddenly almost collapsed when he felt something heavy on his shoulders, and he couldn't breathe. The innocent looking girl was now sitting on his shoulders, legs wrapped around his neck, pulling his hair so that his head was looking up, staring at her face, which had a creepy smile on it. But what caught his attention the most was the cold metal of a knife at his throat.

"Now. I want the names of who your leaders." She said with a hard tone to her voice.

"I—I don't know the names!" He stammered, trying not to look into her eyes, but couldn't seem to look away from the violet orbs.

"Well, I think you better start thinking harder." She said, pushing the knife closer to his throat.

"I'm not lying!" He screamed "One of them is short with purple hair, and the other has long black hair!"

The dark headed girl sighed. Another bust. "Well you're no help." She stated, and emotionlessly sliced his throat open and jumped down off of his shoulders.

The dust was clearing and the wind was picking up. The beautiful and cold hearted girl pulled the bandana that was on her neck up to cover her mouth, so she wouldn't breath in the dust that was still clouding the air. Her gun was held loosely in her hand, a long white ribbon fluttering in the wind, attached on the handle of her gun accompanied by the engravement of the name 'Sode no Shirayuki', and her knife was back in her boot.

She walked away from the four bodies without looking back.


	2. Chapter 2

She pulled her hair tie out again and her hair fell back in her face. She looked at the black elastic memory.

"_Renji, why is your hair always up in a ponytail?" laughed the carefree and loving girl, eyes dancing with life. _

_He laughed at the cute little girl and mussed up her hair. "It's so that my hair stays out of my eyes, Rukia." He took his hair out of the ponytail and handed the hair tie to his best friend. His hair cascaded down around his face and his back. "Here. You keep this one; next time you need to concentrate, use it. It helps."_

"Yes, it sure does Renji." Rukia muttered to herself, back in her sad reality. Her eyes vulnerable for the first time in a long time. "I'll find them Renji. I promised you. I won't go back on that promise." She made an 'x' shape over her heart with her pointer finger.

She looked ahead of herself again. The world was a hard place to be in since the apocalypse. If you wanted to live here, you had to survive. You had to be heartless. Her eyes went cold and emotionless again.

It was the only way. That's what he has told her at least.

She sighed and stood up again. From what she understood, there were reports of a house not too far from here. She could rest there; maybe if she was lucky even scavenge something. But before that…

The bodies were lying face down on the ground. She went to look through what they had that was helpful and easy to carry.

"Oh, water…and this guy has some bullets. Nice."

Satisfied with her find, the petite female walked off into the horizon, muttering a song from her happy past.

"Don't know where I'm at. I'm standing at the back and I'm tired of waiting. Waiting here in line hoping that I'll find what I've been chasing I shot for the sky I'm stuck on the ground but why do I try I know I'm gonna fall down I thought I could fly so why did I drown? I never know why it's coming down down down…"

Her singing was stopped when she saw the house though. She smiled. It looked like the place she, Renji, and her brother Byakuya had stayed for a few days. That was a good time. They had a lot of fun teaching each other new tricks and trading items. The smile faded when she saw the tire tracks in the dirt. Looks like she wouldn't be staying here. Just a raid this time.

The door was swinging open. She slid through the opening without touching the door and creating extra noise, in case someone was still here. She crept into the house, her knife in hand.

After looking through the kitchen to no prevail, she headed towards the bedroom. She went into the closet and found a bag. She sheathed her knife, and started to go through it when she felt something at her back.

"If you move, I won't hesitate to push this into your lungs and leave you here to bleed to death or suffocate. Whichever one happens first. Wanna see which is faster?" A rough voice said in Rukias ear.

She mentally kicked herself for making herself this vulnerable. She knew better.

Rukia tried twisting her body, so that she could attack him. Maybe she could startle him so he would let go and she could run or get her gun.

He quickly recovered from the surprise of the movement, but cut her arm in the process of getting her again in a tight hold. "Did you think I was kidding? You have a death wish? No answer? I'll take that as a yes. And since I'm in a generous mood, I'll help you out with that…and slit your throat." The large violet orbs went wider when she felt the cold metal slide up her arm and went to her neck.

"Whitey, what are you doing to her?" A cute little voice asked, out of her view.

"Yachiru, leave. I don't think Kenpachi would be okay if I let you see this. I'm not as clean as Kurasaki is." The husky voice growled.

"Let go now, whitey." The voice was still the young one, but now held authority.

The hands loosened its hold on the girl, slightly. "Hey. Kid. You mind your own business, and scram."

Suddenly there was a loud screeching sound coming from behind Rukia. Both her and the guy holding her flinched. Chills ran up her spine as she heard the stomping of, what sounded like, an incoming Giant.

"God dammit." The voice behind her muttered.

"What's wrong kiddo?" A new deeper voice asked, as the stomping ceased.

"Whitey-chan isn't letting go of Sakura-hime."

"Wait, what did you just call her? You don't know her! Don't lie, kid!" The captors' voice yelled in fury.

"Sakura-hime!" A little hand pulled Rukias away from the man holding her. The man let go this time though. Rukia took this moment to jump away and slam herself against the wall, creating as much space as possible between her and her captor.

A little pink haired girl walked over, with absolutely no fear and grabbed Rukias hand. Rukia automatically flinched from human contact, but held on. She didn't sense any danger. The girl was a cute little thing. She was probably about five years old. Hard to believe that this little thing caused the horrible screeching from just a minute ago.

The man who had been holding her down was a lean guy, maybe 20. He had tan skin, and spiky white hair. It was pretty easy to see why the little girl called him 'whitey'. He was pouting, and glaring at Rukia, but that was nothing to the death stare he would give to the little girl when the newest enterer wasn't looking.

The giant held up to her imagination. He even surpassed it. The man must have been at least eight feet tall, had long spikes of hair with little bells on the ends, and an eye patch. But despite all of that, all Rukia could stare at was the animalistic grin he had on with absolutely no falter.

Rukia just looked around wildly, scoping for an escape. Once she was out, she could run. She would usually just shoot her way out, but she really had a soft spot for children. She couldn't imagine missing and shooting the little girl on accident. Maybe if she grabbed the little girl and jumped out of the window, taking her along….

"Why do you wanna keep this one?" The monster of a man grunted towards the little girl, grin never wavering.

"This is my Sakura-hime." The girl pointed to the dainty, yet strong, silver bracelet on Rukias wrist, which only had one simple cherry blossom hanging on it.

Whitey rolled his eyes. "So because this thief has a bracelet you like, you wanna keep her?" He turned to the giant, who was obviously in charge. "I say we kill her, and give the bracelet to your pink haired menace, Kenpachi."

"No! I wanna keep her!" She hugged Rukias legs.

"Do you really want her Yachiru?"

"Yes daddy!"

Rukia's eyes widened. Daddy? Whoa. Didn't see that one coming.

Whitey stormed out of the room, knowing the battle was lost.

Kenpachi shrugged, and turned to Rukia. "Okay, First thing's first. Hand everything over. Knives. Guns. Supplies. Everything."

Rukia pressed her back up to the wall even more. She released the little girl's hand, and raised them, to hold back the man. Even though logic told her she could never take someone his size, her brother had always told her to trust her instincts, and her instincts were telling her to fight for her life. Without a weapon, she was as good as dead.

"Aye, girly, just hand them over, and we won't have a problem. I'm saving your damned life, here!" The monster chuckled darkly.

She just pressed her lips closed, and held her hands up a little higher. She calculated the probability of reaching for Shirayuki before anyone would get her.

Just as she was about to make her move, though, there was another presence in the room. He was tall, had dark eyes, a frown, and bright orange hair. "Hey, Kenny, what's taking so long? The gang's ready to go! I even hitched the horse to the caravan, and you know how much I—" He stopped short as he laid eyes on Rukia.

She stared right back at him, trying every possible approach at telling these people she wasn't going to be an easy target. She had to remain emotionless, like Byakuya. She couldn't let them know how terrified she was. Too bad her heart rate didn't want to cooperate.

The orange haired boy walked closer to Rukia. "Hmm. What's the chick doing here? What are you doing to her? I didn't think you liked midgets." He looked slightly nervous, as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Ichigo, this is my new Hime! Sakura-Hime, this is Ichigo. Please talk, Hime! Please!" Yachiru grabbed Rukias hands back, and looked up to her with huge brown eyes, pleading with her.

Rukia sighed. "Hello." She muttered, still assessing him to see if she could possibly take him on in combat.

Ichigo looked at her with a worried face. "Kenpachi…you weren't planning on using her, were you?" he asked, without taking his eyes from Rukia's face.

"What do you mean 'use'?" Kenpachi growled.

"You know…use…" he glanced at Yachiru. "As a man…using her as a woman."

"What are you—oh. No. I'm considering killing her, seeing as she won't drop her damned weapons. Why do you care so much? Because of your mother? Calm down, man." Kenpachi waved him off.

Ichigo's face turned red. "Do not bring my mother into this, Kenpachi. I was looking out for her because even though some people out there seem to think that we have to be hard-asses all the time, I have some kind of humanity left. Is it such a bad thing?!" his wrist flickered towards his gun halter.

This didn't escape Rukia's attention. She tightened her grip on Yachiru.

Kenpachi didn't seem to miss the twitch, either. He started laughing hysterically. "Do you want to fight?!" His smile got impossibly bigger. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife. "Let's tussle, kid!"

Rukia quickly pulled Yachiru behind her, to shield her with her own body. She pulled out her knife, and crouched defensively, while still facing the two angry men. As soon as she did so, both males turned to look at her.

Kenpachi put the knife away, and Ichigo took his hand off of his gun halter. Rukia didn't let up on her defense, though. These men were dangerous. She would take this girl and run. It would be hard, but she couldn't leave her with these maniacs.

"Okay, so Ichigo, you watch her. She's your responsibility now. And don't let her escape…Yachiru seems to have some kind of a fascination with her, and it may keep her out of my hair for a little while. Literally. I just have some things to tell her some things, then she's off my hands." He said nonchalantly. Then he turned to Rukia. "Before we introduce you to the gang, here are the rules. Hurt anyone in our group, and you're dead. Probably tortured first. Try to escape and you're dead. Try to steal anything, and you're dead. Make me angry, and you're dead. Any questions? Good." He didn't even look at Rukia to see if she had any questions. He just walked outside, Leaving Rukia with Yachiru and Ichigo.

"You can stand up now. I'm not going to hurt you." Ichigo muttered. "My freakin' luck, ending up with the new huge responsibility."

Rukia stood up cautiously. She didn't sheath her knife. She had learned her lesson the first time.

"Well, you heard the rules. You're gonna share a caravan with me and a few other people. Don't rely on me to save your ass every time someone wants to kill you around here, cus it happens way too frequently. We never wind up killing each other though. We are kinda just a big family." He added thoughfully.

Yachiru held Rukia's free hand and guided her towards the door, Ichigo following. "Wait 'til you meet our family. They'll love you Sakura-chan. They will. I can tell that you're gonna fit in real nice."

Rukia answered only by squeezing the little girls hand a little. She knew she would probably be dead within the week. But, if she was going down, she was going down with a bang. She would make Renji and Byakuya proud.


	3. Chapter 3

Rukia had been on the road with the group of nomads for the past month. She had been assigned to Ichigo's caravan, which was also shared by a pleasant and beautiful young lady named Orihime. The two had it bad for each other, which Rukia was able to tell within the first week although she kept her mouth shut. She kept her stoic face on, but on the inside she was melting because she found it adorable. She had been a hopeless romantic back before the apocalypse. She had begun to trust the two of them, so she was able to excuse her emotions breaking through the wall she had created. Not that she let them know.

The group stopped every night, unless someone had a bad feeling. Then they just rode through the night. These days your gut feelings could save your life.

When they stopped, Yachiru would always come over to Rukia and talk her ear off. Everyone seemed to wave off the little girl, ignoring the blabbering that erupted from her mouth, but Rukia actually listened. She nodded her head when she found it appropriate, and even uttered a word here and there-in a hushed tone, of course.

Kenpachi ignored Rukia. She hadn't broken any of his rules yet, wasn't allowed to give input towards where they should head next, and couldn't help raid houses and towns, so there was no real reason for him to exert the effort of noticing her. So he didn't. Rukia always made sure she knew where he was, though. She knew the leader was a strong and ferocious man, and she was-admittedly- a bit afraid of him.

The only other person that Rukia paid any attention to the whereabouts of was Toshiro Hitsugaya, the snowy haired man who had held a knife to her throat. Rukia's hand clenched around the dagger she was given back last month as she saw the man hold her gaze from across camp. He held her eyes for a few seconds, and looked back down at the map that he and the other men were studying. She didn't understand him. The first few nights she didn't sleep, because she expected him to come for her in the middle of the night to kill her. But all he did was stare at her. She felt his big green eyes follow her as she helped Orihime set up tents that evening, and earlier when she had helped make and serve breakfast. And now as she sat next to Orihime, starting their fire.

"Rukia, do you know how to mend clothing?" Orihime asked from next to the black haired girl.

Rukia shrugged in response. She had sewed patches for her brother and friends clothing before. She wasn't anything special, though. She reached out for the needle and thread that Orihime was struggling to use to fix a tear in a black shirt. Orihime beamed at her and handed them over.

"Do you hate us, Rukia?" She asked after a few minutes of silence.

Purple eyes jumped up in surprise at the question. "No. I don't hate all of you. But I do hate feeling threatened. And useless."

Orihime's grey orbs widened. This was the most that Rukia had said at once to her before. And the biggest confession she had ever admitted. Orihime was innocent, but she wasn't stupid. She understood why Rukia felt threatened. She was in a group of people who were always glaring at her. She had noticed that suddenly, Toshiro had his gun in reach at all times. Plus Ichigo had told her how they had taken away her gun. A gun was all a person had sometimes these days. But the other confession left her stumped. "Why do you feel useless? You're probably stronger than most of our men. I've seen you carry things into and out of the caravans! And you always help me cook and feed the horses, and now you're sewing for me!"

Rukia rolled her eyes. She decided she trusted the taller beautiful girl enough to be completely honest with her. "Being domestic doesn't do it for me. I can do something else. I don't mind helping you do this," she raised the shirt that was almost complete to show what she meant. "But when it comes down to it, I'm not helping you to my full potential."

Orihime was absolutely astounded with how much Rukia was opening up to her right now. Rukia was always polite and always answered her, but had never offered so much to conversation. She opened her mouth to answer, when a voice cut her off.

"Orihime, what the fuck is this?! Shouldn't you be doing shit right now, instead of sitting on your lazy ass?"

She looked up, eyes wide at the voice who had spoken to her. It was Omaeda. The overweight, tall man was towering over her sitting form.

She quickly jumped up. "Oh, Omaeda, I didn't see you there. I was just talking to Rukia, here—"

"You really think I give a shit what you were doing? Why don't you start working, and make yourself useful!" He grabbed her arm, and pushed her towards a tent they had set up.

As soon as he had touched her arm, Rukia was up and grabbing the knife from the belt on her slim waist. Once Orihime landed on the ground, Rukia jumped on the man. They fell to the ground, and Rukia straddled his chest with her knife to his throat. She was aware that the entire camp had silenced and was watching the scene unfolding before their eyes. She was also aware of Orihime next to her holding her arm, which she had fallen on. This added fuel to the fire, and she forgot about the camp of armed people.

"You like to push people smaller than you, huh? Feel like a man?" She pushed her knife closer to his skin, smiling like a maniac. She hadn't felt this good in a while. It felt nice exerting her pent up anger on someone, and while protecting someone she cared about. Her smile got wider. "Why don't you try pushing me? See what happens then."

Footsteps approaching them silenced her, but she kept her eyes on the fat man. "Really, Omaeda? You fat asshole. I should let her take care of you right now. You're so lucky Kenpachi has that whole second chance thing." Rukia's eyes slowly traveled up the body of the man standing before them. When her amethyst eyes met Toshiro's emerald ones, she almost had a heart attack, seeing as he was smiling at her, and it wasn't one full of contempt. He held out a hand to Rukia. She stared at it for a second, and slowly reached up to take it. He helped pull her up and off of the ugly man, only to kick him once in the ribs. "If you touch her again, I'll let her lose on you, and no one will do anything but cheer her on. Especially me." Omaeda just nodded and ran off.

Rukia made eye contact with Toshiro again. She nodded at him, after searching his eyes for the hatred that she had been expecting. Instead she found excitement. Did he want a fight as badly as she did? When he nodded back to her, she rushed off to check on Orihime.

"Are you okay?" she asked, holding her arm daintily.

"I'm fine, Rukia. Thank you for defending me. I just hope you don't get in trouble over it."

Rukia gave her a little smile. "Don't worry about me."

Just as Orihime opened her mouth to argue with Rukia, she was interrupted by a familiar husky voice coming from behind Rukia. Rukia jumped, and turned with her and on her belt faster than usual since her adrenaline was still pumping through her veins. "She won't get in trouble, Orihime. Don't worry. Kenpachi watched the whole thing. He admires people who defend their own." He didn't even acknowledge the shorter girl who was sitting, ready to strike. "But if I were her, I would watch out for Omaeda. He may be easy to beat up, but when he gets mad, he likes to fight dirty. I'm on watch for most of tonight, so I'll keep an eye out on your caravan for you." With his last sentence, he glanced over at Rukia, to make sure she was listening. Then he stood up, and called out over his shoulder, "Night, Orihime. Ichigo should be along soon. Oh, and I'd use a few strips of an old shirt to stabilize her arm if I were you, Rukia." Rukia looked up in shock. He had addressed her, and by name. But she nodded, when she saw him glace back out of the corner of his eye. She knew he saw her.

"Thank you, Toshiro! Good night!" She waved at him, with a wide smile on her face.

After Rukia had fixed her arm up nice and tight, Ichigo came running over. He had been inside a tent helping the other men plan when the blowout had happened. He had finished quickly and ran off to the two women at his camp. "Are you okay, Orihime? I heard what happened. I'd love to beat that fuckers face right in." His face went dark, and he glared in the direction of Omaeda's sleeping quarters. Rukia touched his arm lightly. He looked at her, and his face cleared up. "Thank you, Rukia. If you weren't there, I don't know if anyone would have done anything. Most of the people here are cowards and let him walk all over them." He sighed, and smiled at the short girl. He was surprised when she met his eyes and gave a small shy smile back.

"Go to her. She's lying down, but she's waiting for you. She won't sleep until you're there." She turned away from him to go to the sleeping mat she had, but before Ichigo went into his tent, she faced him once more. "I'm glad I was able to help her."

He held her gaze, and smiled at her again, and went into his cozy tent he shared with Orihime.

When Rukia had been taken by the group, she was granted her backpack of items, and one of which was her sleeping mat. It wasn't the most comfortable thing, but it was sturdy enough to last her this long. Besides, it's not like she was going to be given a tent. When it rained, she just took it into the caravan to sleep. It was colder when she didn't rest right next to the fire, but at least she was dry.

But that wasn't the case tonight. Rukia laid flat on her back staring up at the stars. She never let herself sleep until she could hear everyone finally settle down in their own tents. Only once it was silent, did she finally allow herself to nod off. That is, until she heard footsteps approaching her.

Remembering Toshiro's words earlier, she reached for her knife, while keeping her eyes closed. When the footsteps got too close for comfort, she jumped up, knife in hand.

Rukia looked down to find Yachiru had wandered to her campsite. She looked upset, but not at the fact that Rukia had drawn a knife on her. In fact, she seemed unfazed by that. "Sakura, I had a bad dream, and daddy is so tired. I didn't want to wake him up. I know you had a fight, so you must be tired, too but I didn't know who to go to and I can't go back to sleep and—"

Rukia cut off Yachiru by holding out her arms. Yachiru, still teary eyed, instantly gave a toothy smile, and ran into Rukia's arms. Rukia pulled Yachiru onto the mat, pulled the blankets over her, and stroked the pink hair. She was passed out in moments. Rukia smiled down at the little girl, and stared into the fire. She wasn't tired anymore. Movement out of the corner of her eye caused Rukia to jump a little. She saw Toshiro taking a seat in the middle of the camp. He must be on watch. He met her eye and nodded, acknowledging her presence. His eyes dropped a little as he took in the site of Rukia clutching the little pink haired girl and he chuckled. She blushed a little. This may ruin her reputation as the emotionless psycho that everyone thought she was. She liked this because it meant no one would mess with her. She hoped the little white haired man would keep his mouth quiet.

As if he had read her mind, he motioned as if zipping his mouth closed, and she relaxed again. She felt the girl snuggle against her as she lay back down, and found sleep, feeling safe knowing Toshiro was watching over them.


	4. Chapter 4

Rukia was woken by thunderous stomping, and a booming voice. "WHERE IS YACHIRU?" The said child was still resting peacefully in her arms. Rukia glanced up to see Kenpachi with a murderous look on his face looking around franticly.

She jumped up, threw on her boots, and ran over to the humungous man. She kept an arm's length away from him, but looked him in the eye. "Sir, your daughter is sleeping on my mat. She has no harm done to her."

His eyes jumped to Ichigo and Orihime's tent, then to the orange embers that had been their fire, and finally reached the little lump under a blanket where Rukia had been sleeping. He could see the steady rising and falling of the blanket, and he knew there was nothing wrong. He looked back down at the outcast and now had a small smile back on his face. This girl was beginning to impress him. He had watched her pounce on Omaeda last night with absolutely no hesitation, despite how much larger the man was than her. He hadn't missed the smile that had spread across her face as she had lain on the man with a knife to his throat. He couldn't help but to think of how much he had been reminded of himself in her act. And now here she was, holding eye contact with him, the giant leader who had just been hell bent on taking off someone's head. But she had just jumped right in front of him to tell him where his daughter was. Yes, definitely beginning to impress him. This little girl had some fire in her.

He looked as Toshiro was running toward them, with a worried look on his face. "Kenpachi, she's not lying. I watched Yachiru walk right up to her." Toshiro went to stand in front of Rukia, who was taken aback by his sudden entrance.

Kenpachi gave a bigger smile and shrugged. "Okay." He just turned around and walked back into his tent.

Rukia just stared at the tent for a few seconds, shook her head and turned to walk back to the little girl. As she stepped away, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She flinched at the contact, and turned to see Toshiro had been the one to stop her. "My caravan is used to store clothes. I think that you and Orihime should take a look around in there sometime this week." He looked pointedly at her shorts. "It's starting to get a little chilly. And maybe you can find something more comfortable to sleep in." He smiled a little and turned away.

"Toshiro!" She called after him, surprising him, as well as herself. He turned to look at her. "Thank you. But why are you doing this for me? I thought you hated me. Didn't trust me. I thought you wanted me dead."

He sighed. "I thought you were trouble. I thought we should have killed you back in that house for the better of this group. We've had people rob us the way you were before. And they had screwed over this group so badly. Killed my people. I couldn't let you do that to us again. I was ready to kill you. But when Kenpachi had you turn around….you just remind me so much of someone I used to know. I can't hate you. But I didn't like you. And I sure as hell didn't trust you. But after last night, it's nice to know that I'm not the only one who cares that much about the people in this group. I think you may be able to earn some trust around here."

Rukia's eyes went wide. She felt like he was unintentionally putting weight on her shoulders. "I only risk my neck like that for people I care about. Orihime and Ichigo have done a lot for me. I would do it for either of them." She thought for a second, and remembered the pink haired girl sleeping in her bed. "And Yachiru. I would do it for Yachiru in a heartbeat. I don't want you to think I am going to do things for everyone here. But thank you." She nodded her head towards him, and walked towards Orihime. She had a feeling the taller girl would be excited to get new clothes.

"Rukia, look at this!" Orihime held up a white lacey summer dress. "It would fit you so nicely!"

Rukia smiled at the girls' enthusiasm. She looked at the dress and sighed. It was really cute. She would have saved up for a long time for that dress had this been a few years ago. But in this day and age, the dress would do no good.

"It probably would, Orihime. It's really pretty, but I don't know if that's the most reasonable thing to wear. Could you imagine sitting in the caravan all day with that lace, or if we meet trouble, imagine fighting in that short skirt? Plus, it's getting too cold for that." Rukia had become much chattier with Orihime since the Omaeda incident four days ago.

"I FOUND WINSTON!" Both Rukia and Orihime jumped at the sudden yelling as Yachiru popped out of a box of clothing, clutching a turtle in her tiny hands. She leaped out of the box, and dashed out of the caravan, chanting the name 'Winston'.

Rukia dug into a box and pulled out a dark blue long sleeved thermal. That looked like it would fit very well. It was thick enough to keep in warmth, as well.

After an hour or so of trying on clothes, Orihime and Rukia had new outfits. Rukia had a three new pairs of jeans that hugged every curve on her body, a few thermals, a black pull over hoodie for a college she'd never heard of, a purple zip up, a pair of men's sweats, and an olive green jacket with brass buttons and a wool interior. This would be very handy soon, and she needed to make sure she was prepared. Rukia pulled her worn, but sturdy and comfortable brown combat boots over her new pants and felt very content with her finds. She tied her bandana back around her neck, and put her hair in her ponytail. Her hair was getting longer than she liked. Maybe she could ask Orihime to cut it for her.

Orihime had found quite a few things for herself, as well. She was wearing new green cargo pants that hugged her in places that Ichigo would probably want to thank her for later, a white thermal turtle neck, a vest, and some new work boots, seeing as her old ones were getting holes in them.

After looking in the odds and ends box, as It was labeled, Rukia found a new belt to hold her knife, and her gun-whenever she got that back-and she also found a bandana for Orihime, who used it as a head band.

The two girls walked out of Toshiro's caravan very happy. Rukia met the white haired mans eyes as she walked towards her own caravan, and gave him a small smile. She saw out of the corner of her eye, though, the way his eyes traveled down her body as she walked away. For some reason this made her blush. Men had said disgustingly dirty things to her before, and she never thought twice about it. But when the attractive—Rukia stopped mid thought. Attractive? When was the last time she has thought someone was _attractive?!_ She shook the thought from her head, and walked on.

There were clouds forming over the sky, and Rukia had a feeling she'd be sleeping in the caravan. She sighed and walked to her bed mat, bending down to roll it up. She felt a pair of eyes inspecting her as she cleaned her spot up. She knew it wasn't Toshiro. The feeling made her nauseous. She turned around to see Omaeda clearly checking out her ass, even as she looked at him. He just grinned at her, winked, and walked away.

"Wow. He must have quite a pair to be able to ogle you like that." Rukia looked up to see Toshiro standing above her, watching Omaeda walk away.

She glared up at him, and continued putting her mat in the caravan. "If I catch him looking at me again, he won't have quite a pair anymore, let me tell you." She muttered. She heard Toshiro chuckle deviously, and she looked up at him again.

"Can you run fast?" He asked suddenly.

She looked up with a questioning look on her face. "Yeah, I ran track in high school, and kept with it. Why?"

With a smirk, Toshiro nodded his head towards Kenpachi's tent. "Kenpachi wants to have a word with you."

Rukia, still confused, just nodded and headed to Kenpachi's tent.

"Ah, there she is. Can you run, kid?" Again? What's going on?

"Said she ran track in high school." Toshiro stated from behind her. Rukia just nodded.

"You wanna go on a run with us? We're going to a nearby town. We gotta get some supplies for doc. It's getting cold. We wanna make sure we have as much as we can by the time it starts snowing."

Rukia was excited. She finally could do something for her group. She nodded her head fast. "I would love to help you guys."

Toshiro grinned. "Thought you'd say that. Here ya go." He handed Rukia her gun. Her eyes gleamed with happiness and a smile broke over her face. She tried to hide it, but gave up, and smiled up at Toshiro.

"Thank you." She said with emotion breaking through. She would kick herself later. For now, she had her father's gun back in her possession. She was happier than she had been in a while. She quickly checked to make sure it was still loaded – which it was- and she put it in the holster at her waist.

"We leave at sunrise, kid. We'll give you a horse. It'll be your horse from now on." He turned to Toshiro. "Go get her one. I'll see you two later. Night." He closed his tent flap in their faces.

"Follow me." Toshiro whispered. People were starting to go to sleep. As they walked towards the horses that were used to pull the caravans, he started talking again. "It'll be me, you, Kenpachi, Omaeda, and Hanataro. The rest of the men are staying to watch camp."

"Hanataro? He's so meek, though. Is he able to go?"

"We need a healer with us every time we leave. It's his turn."

"Do we usually need a healer while out?"

He looked at the ground with a dark look on his face. "No, but it's been needed before."

Rukia didn't want to push the subject. They were at the horses, anyways. Toshiro led them to a pure white mare with an even whiter mane. Rukia knew this horse as Chappy, and it was her favorite. "Is she mine?" She held her breath as she waited for his answer.

"Yep. This is her! She's beautiful, isn't she? Okay, so we'll ride out at sunrise. You okay with this?"

Rukia nodded her head, trying to hide her emotions again. "Yes."

"Alright, then. Goodnight!"

Rukia made her way back to the caravan as it started raining. As she passed the tent Ichigo and Orihime shared, she heard moaning. Her eyes went wide. Well, good for them. At least they were finally together. She giggled to herself as she changed into sweats and an old tshirt she had originally. Tomorrow she would finally be able to do something substantial that would help Ichigo, Orihime and Yachiru. For the first time in a very long time, Rukia fell asleep with a smile on her face.


	5. Chapter 5

Rukia woke up before the sun had started rising. She quickly dressed and threw on her boots. She walked outside to see Toshiro was pulling on his shirt. Rukia blushed and looked away. She cursed at herself for reacting this way. "Well, I am a 17 year old girl. It isn't too unexpected." She mumbled, fiddling with her bangs.

"You're only 17?"

Violet eyes met pink. Yachiru was smiling up to Rukia. Her eyes wandered to Rukia's wrist. Rukia had never found out why the girl had saved her. It never made sense. Sakura?

"Yachiru, why do you call me Sakura?" Rukia knelt down to be eye level with the child.

"Mommy used to tell me a story! And it was about you! You have the magic bracelet, and the eyes! You're princess Sakura!" Yachiru jumped up and down clapping.

Rukia smiled at the hyper kid. She was growing attached very fast.

Suddenly Yachiru's smile fell. She looked at the ground, and when her eyes met Rukia's again, they were filled with tears. "What if something happens to you today, Sakura? Who will I talk to?"

Rukia hugged her. "Nothing is going to happen to me. Your daddy is gonna be there. You think anyone's going to mess with him?" Yachiru didn't look convinced. Rukia took off her bracelet. "Here, you take the magic bracelet. Nothing bad will happen to you when you wear it. It's true. Look at me!"

Yachiru looked at the bracelet in awe. She looked at Rukia with a look of great admiration. "Thank you, Sakura! You're so nice. I knew you were good when I saw you! I knew it!" Rukia smiled as the little girl ran off with the bracelet. She looked up to see Toshiro smiling at her, too. Rukia pretended she didn't see him, though. She didn't want him to see her blush at his smile. She turned away, and walked towards her horse. She threw her hair up in her pony tail, and jumped on Chappy.

She watched as the others finished saddling their horses and were also ready to go.

Two days later, the group had found an old ghost town.

Kenpachi stopped at a strip mall. "Okay, everyone split up. I'll hit these few right here. 'Shiro, you head to those three shops there, Omaeda, you get these two, and Rukia, you get those last small ones. We're looking for any medication, food, weaponry, or anything else that looks helpful." He looked down to Hanataro. "You set up your station right here. We all know that a shot means that we're signaling the others, right? Okay. Get to it, girls!" He grinned and went off into the store.

Rukia got right to business. The first two stores were empty of anything useful other than the box of granola bars that were in one of the break rooms. As Rukia walked into the last store she was assigned to, she noticed it was at one time a pharmacy. She got really excited, seeing as the reason they were on this run was for medication. She started filling her bag with every bottle she could find. She was so happy, she didn't notice the footsteps coming from behind her until it was too late.

Giant hands were practically covering her entire face in the effort to cover her mouth. She felt the warm rancid breath on her neck as the familiar voice whispered in her ear, "You think you can embarrass me in front of my own group of people? Yeah, right. You're going to have to learn some respect, little lady." Rukias eyes went wide. He threw her knife and gun across the floor, and he started pulling her towards the back room. "Come on. We don't want an audience, now do we?"

Rukia had to think fast. His hand was creeping up her leg to cup her ass. She squirmed around, only to be pushed against the wall by his body. He only reached forward unbuttoning her pants and sticking his hand inside, feeling her through her panties. "Moving around like that won't help you none, lady. You may want to just sit still. You're just getting me a bit more excited." He pushed his hips forward to let her know exactly what he meant. He kept grinding into her ass, moving at a slow pace. Rukia had never felt so helpless. She knew now was her last window of opportunity before things got too far. She mustered all her strength, and bit his hand as hard as she could, and spun around to face him. He yelped, and smacked her face, slamming her head hard against the wall. Rukia was disoriented from the hit and felt blood running down her neck, but she continued to fight. She grabbed his injured arm while his good arm grabbed her shirt by the neck. She twisted his bad arm around to his back. In the process, he had managed to rip her shirt, but she was still covered, and he was on his stomach at her mercy, so she didn't care. She slammed his face against the floor a few times before punching him in the neck in the one spot that she knew would knock him out cold.

As she did this, she could hear footsteps running her way.

"What the fuck?!" She heard Toshiro exclaim. She could only imagine what she looked like right now. Pants unbuttoned and wiggled down slightly, her shirt ripped at the neck down her shoulder, her hair sticking up from him pulling her by it at one point, covered in blood, even though it wasn't hers.

She looked up at the three men left. "I'm okay." And then she fell unconscious to the floor, exhausted from her struggle.

Rukia woke up in pain. She looked up to see Hanataro rubbing alcohol on her shoulder that had been scratched while her shirt was practically being ripped off her torso. The cut stung like a bitch. Rukia had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from yelling out from the pain.

"You had us worried for a while." She glanced up again to see Toshiro looking down at her. "Did he do anything to you? You know, not like hitting you but…" he trailed off, knowing she would understand.

Rukia just shook her head. "No. I got him off of me before anything…serious happened." She shuddered, thinking of him grinding against her ass. "Thanks for cleaning me up, Hanataro. You almost finished?"

He smiled up at her. "Just about, Miss Rukia. Anywhere else hurting?"

She shook her head again. She had a horrible head ache, and she was pretty sure she had broken a rib, but she hated having people medicate her. "I'm fine now." She turned to Toshiro. "Did I do any damage to the huge oaf?"

He grinned at her. "I'm impressed with your work, Rukia. Needs stitches on his palm and his right cheek. Had two black eyes, and a few cracked ribs, but I'm sorry to say that the ribs aren't from you. We all got a few good kicks in there. Even Hanataro went for a few." The said boy blushed and went back to packing up his supplies. "Kenpachi is probably going to leave Omaeda here. We'll take his horse with us, and leave so he doesn't have a chance to follow us. Sound okay with you? You get final word on his sentence."

"Me? I'm just the captive. Why does my word count?" Rukia looked at him confused. She was stretching, learning where she was bruised and what hurt.

"Are you really a captive? Or are you one of us? It's up to you what you want to be. We've already accepted you as our own. You have to make the decision for yourself, though." He passed her a sleeping bag. "We're staying here for the night. It's not safe for us to be moving right now." He walked away without another word.

His words made her stop and think. Was she one of them?

Rukia sighed, and went to her bag. She was exhausted. She couldn't wait to get to her caravan and sleep. She couldn't wait to be near a fire. She couldn't wait to get into her pajamas. She couldn't wait to see Yachiru and Orihime and Ichigo. Rukia thought for a second. Above all, she couldn't wait to go on another supply run.


End file.
